Fr. Raphael Morgan, the first African-American Orthodox priest, was initially an AME minister before he became an Anglican/ Episcopal priest and finally an Orthodox priest.

Logged

Quote

But it had not been in Tess's power - nor is it in anybody's power - to feel the whole truth of golden opinions while it is possible to profit by them. She - and how many more - might have ironically said to God with Saint Augustine, "Thou hast counselled a better course than thou hast permitted."

Fr. Raphael Morgan, the first African-American Orthodox priest, was initially an AME minister before he became an Anglican/ Episcopal priest and finally an Orthodox priest.

Very interesting! Maybe someday he'll write an autobiography or something. I would be very interested in reading it.

No one knows when or where he died, but he was ordained in 1907 so I assume we won't be getting his autobiography on this side of the eschaton.

Logged

Quote

But it had not been in Tess's power - nor is it in anybody's power - to feel the whole truth of golden opinions while it is possible to profit by them. She - and how many more - might have ironically said to God with Saint Augustine, "Thou hast counselled a better course than thou hast permitted."

I am going through Confirmation/Chrismation classes in the Anglican Church right now (Anglican Province of America).

My denomination, the Anglican Province of America, is the most conservative and "Orthodox" out of all Anglican denominations in the world. We do not allow women or homosexuals to become clergy. The biggest points we disagree with the Eastern Orthodox are the celibacy of bishops, filioque, and substitutionary atonement. There are probably others, but those are the ones I can think of from the top of my head. In fact, it's a distinct possibility that we may seek to "engage in discussions" with the Orthodox Church if things get any worse in Anglicanism.

My priest is one of the most Godly men I have ever met... more so than many Orthodox priests I have come into contact with. He's the only pastor or priest I have seen cry during the Eucharist because he was so moved. The Church welcomed me with opened arms (something I did not find in my local Greek Ethnic Club... excuse me I mean Greek Orthodox Church ). There is no doubt that the true religion is still being practiced in the Anglican Province of America.

Lots of people in my denomination would be Orthodox if it wasn't for the fact that many Orthodox (besides ROCOR and Antiochan) seem entirely unwilling to provide any type of Western Rite. In fact, many also say "Byzantine Rite or get out," which is something I find reprehensible. Greeks, Russians, Antiochans, etc. all have their particular cultural influences in their liturgies... why can't the West have the same? I commend the Antiochan church for attempting to grow their Western Rite churches so that Traditional Anglicans can return to a healthy church body.

Easterners and Westerners think differently when it comes to liturgy. As my priest puts it, Western liturgy tends to be linear. We may say long 15 minute prayers, but we only do it once per service. The East, on the other hand, likes to have a kind of cyclic journey in their liturgy, where each individual prayer might not be as long, but repetition is preferred over length.

Personally, I have no ancestral ties to Eastern Rite at all. It feels very unnatural for me to be in an Orthodox Divine Liturgy, and much more comfortable for me to observe Western Rite. Sure, I like Byzantine music... but it just doesn't have the same moving effect on me that Western plainchant does, or even a classic Anglican hymn.

I myself have been quite skeptical of the extreme lack of WRO (I think someone told me that there are fewer than 8,000 WR Orthodox worldwide -- which is a minuscule percentage) and also of the negative attitudes that so many Orthodox display toward the WR.

However, I've also come to believe that the best approach for the Orthodox is take may be to stress that "You don't have to be Western Rite to be Western", or something along those lines. (Of course, this isn't any of my business strictly speaking since I don't plan to convert to Orthodoxy.)

I've never been to a WRO parish, so I really don't know what they are all about, but I never really felt that my parish is eastern per se. Everything is in English, most of the people are converts, so they are culturally western. We are Antiochian jurisdictionally, but we are just Orthodox. Just a bunch of Americans with Orthodox theology using a liturgy that has been used for centuries. I don't think that makes us eastern.

The term planet earth is an innovation which has arisen in recent centuries with the error of heliocentrism.

If one wants to confess a pure doctrine of Orthodoxy, they should be careful not to refer to the earth as a planet, unlike the current Pope as well as Patriarch Kirill and Patriarch Bartholomew, who regularly speak in error when they refer to our planet earth.